The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Generally forceps may be utilized for laparoscopic surgery. The forceps may be employed to control delicate movements inside a patient and may include an end effector assembly with a pair of opposed resilient jaws that are closed against each other to grip tissue. Further, the forceps may utilize electrical energy that is delivered to the pair of opposed resilient jaws to coagulate or gut the tissue. Such devices, however, may produce high jaw forces to compress the tissue and, in some circumstances, high jaw forces to open the jaws. These high jaw forces can result in breakage of the end effector assembly.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for forceps with a force limiting mechanism that prevents clamping forces imparted by the forceps' end effector from exceeding a predetermined amount of force to prevent breakage of the end effector.